An Interview With

CONTINUED...

BF:
That was a
weird deal because we had heard about a "Partridge Family Reunion" on Arsenio
Hall. We got in touch with the producer, who asked if we wanted to be on it. We
were like, "Hello?! We were on the show - yes!" So we went to LA and went to
the studio. Usually when you are on these things, you are backstage in a green
room together with the rest of the cast members but for some reason they said
"Well, we saved a couple of seats for you out in the audience, and we'll make
reference to you." So Danny went on and showed the tattoo on his ass and spoke
of the radio station he worked at, and we never went on! I remember they had a
camera pointed towards us and everything else, but nothing ever happened. I
don't even think we went backstage or anything! It was so weird.

GH: So you and Suzanne went expecting to be on the panel, and
you were stuck in the audience?

BF: Yeah! And even then I thought it
was a different way of doing it. I thought we were going to be a surprise guest
or something out in the audience. But even that didn't happen. When the
audience saw us come in and sit in the two reserved seats, the light bulbs went
on in their heads, and they all thought it was neat - and then nothing! That
was really an enlightening time for me when I went. I thought, "Okay - Chris
and Tracy really don't mean anything!"

GH: Well, to many fans they do.

BF: Well, I don't know if they really
do or not. I mean, we were there but not much. When you look at the Brady
Bunch, they really worked to include all the kids in all episodes. They were
much more equal in their status.

GH: And last, what about Dave Madden?

BF: Well, I told you I love Dave. I
mean, he's just brilliant and funny. I have a lot of respect for him and always
have. Very funny. I know my mom had a crush on him too! He was very liberal as
was my Mom. He gave me and Danny driving lessons and I remember driving around
the backlot on the Ranch in his Datsun 240Z and I was sitting on his lap doing
the steering and gear shift and he was doing the throttle and the brake. Dave
was really into photography and I got into it as a hobby because of him. He
used to love very unusual sort of shots. I remember he took a photo of some guy
from behind that was wearing really thick glasses. And from the angle Dave took
the photo, you could see a distorted view of the guy in the thick lenses! Dave
loved those kinds of shots.

GH: Did he fake a heart attack while driving like he did with
Danny?

BF: I don't remember that. Maybe he
did. He was really good with us kids because he really knew how to keep us
entertained. He just had this big floppy nose that felt like it was rubber. So
he'd take his nose and bop it back and forth like a boxer's punching bag and
for a kid that was entertaining as hell!

GH: Did Wes Farrell visit the set at all?

BF: I think so. I seem to remember
him being there, but not too often.

GH: Do you remember any stories regarding the people behind
the scenes? Bob Claver, Mel Swope, Larry Rosen?

BF: I saw them all the time. I knew
Dale McRaven was Susan Dey's boyfriend, at least in the last season. I remember
he was a sort of radical hippie with the blue jeans and beard like Jerry
Garcia. I liked them all, but Mel Swope was one of my favorites. I liked him a
lot. We saw Bob Claver the least, but when he came on the set there was always
an air about him. Everyone, including Shirley, seemed to pay closer attention
to what he was saying. There were various crew members that we really became
close to. I think a lot of these crew members were hired specifically because
they were good with kids. We had one sound guy that we used to call "Chrome
Dome" because he was amply bald. We used to come up behind him and say, "Hey!
Shine your head for a quarter?" And stuff like that. He always took it really
well until one day I got this idea to take a cold coke can, and hold it in my
hands for a while, then I went up behind him and put my cold hands on his head!
Well, he turned around and gave me such a look on his face!! I knew I had
crossed over the line because this guy was always a sweetheart and good with us
kids. I probably have more memories of the crew guys than some of the cast! The
Assistant Director was named Chris Morgan. He was actually Harry Morgan's [M*A*S*H*]
son. He had a wry, dry sense of humor. I'm not sure how thrilled he was to be
working with kids. He was much like the Reuben Kincaid character. He says he
hates kids, but does he really?

GH: Do you remember your stand-ins?

BF: It was kind of funny because the
stand-in for me and Suzanne was like sixty years old! But he was our size so
that's why he was hired.

GH: When we interviewed Suzanne, she mentioned something about
a new series that was sold to a network at one point. Do you remember any
details about it?

BF: I think it was 1988, or
thereabouts. The basic premise was that Keith was going to get married. He had
been an exchange student so we were going to go to the wedding in London. I
think we met with Larry Rosen. I know I signed a contract to do a pilot and if
it went to a series, we would do the series. I remember Dave Madden was coming
in as I was going out. As far as I remember everybody was on board except for
Susan, who was doing "L.A. Law" at the time. We joked that a perfect explanation
for her absence was that she was a lawyer in LA and she can't come! So we
signed contracts and had the basic premise, and then the Writers' Strike
happened and by the time it was over, which was three or four months later, it
had lost all its fire and that was then end of that.

GH: Did you see the two TV movies that have aired over the
past few years? If so what did you think of them?

BF: Yes, I did. Stupid! I was kind of
embarrassed. One was based on David's experiences and the other on Danny's. The
one based on Danny's story, I found more interesting because it was a little
bit more accurate, as far as Danny and what he went through. But that scene
with the Brady Bunch kids was the stupidest thing I have ever seen. I thought,
"What was that?!" We weren't even on the same studio lot and never met them in
our costumes or anything. Still, I found it a little more interesting. I found
David's to be one exaggeration after another.

GH: Suzanne was upset because they made Shirley look a little
bufoonish - Danny's movie in particular.

BF:
Yes! They
made her look like a pompous egomaniac and she was anything but! So that was
really lame. I was just disappointed in both of them.

GH: Both films focused on a crush that Susan Dey had on David
Cassidy. Were you aware of anything like that going on?

BF: A little bit. I think it
may have been exaggerated a bit, but I knew there was something going on. I
think it was more in the beginning than towards the end, because she hooked up
with Dale McRaven, and that was towards the end of the run.

GH: Tell us how you got into Road Racing?

BF:
It started on
the streets of Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills. My Mom's best friend was
into racing and she's the one who sparked my interest. She used to give me
stuff on the Indy 500 and Sports Car books. She was a neat lady, and
unfortunately she passed away recently. So I would race on Mullholland between
Coldwater and Laurel. I never really enjoyed racing other guys because a lot of
them were drunk or stoned so I would do it against the clock. I didn't ever
crash, but came close a few times. Eventually I got involved in solo racing in
1982, when I bought a real racecar and went road racing.

GH: Do you still participate?

BF: Sure! I've been doing it
professionally on many levels since 1986. I was an instructor at a racing
school. I did that for four years, and then I worked for another school for
four years. Then I bought an existing race business named Pfeiffer Bridge
Racing. That's where the trouble began. It was half service, half retail and
you prepare race cars for clients. The best program is where you store a guy's
car and maintain it, take it to the track and provide the pit crew. Then the
owner races it, and you take it back afterwards and take care of it. But that
was just a money pit like I never knew existed! I lost lots of money. Is still
have it but I'm in the process of closing it up so I can move onto the next
chapter of my life. But the idea was to make a living and go racing and I
wasn't making a living and my racing drastically got curtailed.

GH: Where did you compete?

BF: In 1994 I finished third in the
National Run-offs, which were held in Ohio. And I've raced in Atlanta, Washington,
Oregon, and Florida. I've raced everything from dirt track and oval track cars
to Formula Atlantic, which is one or two steps under an Indy car. The last time
I drove was about two weeks ago in a Vintage Racing Event, in a 1961 Lotus.
I've got a good reputation. It's pretty cool.

GH: Did I read somewhere you are also a teacher?

BF: I am a science teacher, yes. I
did both fourth grade kids in 1985 and high school substitute teaching in
1991/92.

GH: What are you involved with now?

BF: I am involved in two things. I
still have a few customers in the race business, and I also have a wine
business, working in a wine tasting room and production. So I am entering the
wine business. I'm in Sonoma County, which is the best place to be in the wine
business.

GH: You recently opened in a production of "Gypsy". What can
you tell us about that?

BF: It's with a group called the
Santa Rosa Players. I'm playing Uncle Jocko and the hotel manager. They're a
couple of small parts but that's fine with me. I was doing a lot of theatre
with the Sonoma County Rep. I did Shakespeare a couple of times and it got too
much with the race business, the wine business and the theatre so I was
overwhelmed. This is a good time of the year to do theater because the race
business is finished for the season, so I thought it would be fun to do a show.

GH: Do you enjoy performing in live theater?

BF: I had never really done live
theater. I had always done commercials and TV, which is a completely different
animal. I did my first show in 1991, I think, and I had an absolute ball! An
audience has such a different element to it, and frankly I was scared because I
had this reputation of being on "The Partridge Family" and was afraid I would
be awful. But I think it when pretty well. If nothing else, I had a really good
time and they asked me back.

GH: What is the clip we always see in these reunion specials
where you are wearing a tuxedo jacket?

BF: That was a show called
"Repertory" with Sonoma County Rep. I was the emcee of the piece. That was
difficult because the writer kept changing the dialogue. And the parts that I
had were like two or three minute monologues, where I was introducing a scene
or summarizing a scene. It was all written in Shakespearean, but with a
humorous twist to the prose. It was rough.

GH: Did you get a lot of last minute script changes when you
were doing "The Partridge Family"?

BF: No, not really. I mean, it was
mostly the director that may have been blocking a scene a certain way and
sometimes dialogue may not have worked. You're always fine tuning things.

GH: If you had input in a new Partridge Family movie, what
would you like to see Chris doing as an adult?

BF: Well, obviously Chris needs to
have a life! [Laughs] About the only thing we knew about Chris is his age, he
played the drums and he liked the Dodgers. There wasn't much to know. So he
needs a life and a character. If we ever do a reunion, I want to be some sort
of a Keith Moon knocking the drum sets over. I think it would be a blast!

GH: When did you meet the first Chris, Jeremy Gelbwaks?

BF: Nick At Nite did this New Years Eve
celebration and their big shtick was introducing the two of us. I thought we
were going to be the minor character, and we get there and they met me at the
gate with a Mercedes rental car! Then I get to the hotel and there's a bowl of
fruit waiting for me, and I couldn't understand it. Then I realized that we
were the featured attraction, so that explained the red carpet treatment. But it
was very eye opening. I had never met Jeremy - I had just heard the stories.
But all of the stuff I had heard about him was true! At one point he was acting
up between scenes by snapping his fingers and saying, "Hey! PA! I need some
water!" I thought, "Oh my God! It's really true!" I went off stage to the PA
and apologized for the guy. I told him all Chrises aren't like that [laughs].

GH: How was he when you were all on Danny's talk show?

BF: They did this little impromptu
bit where they asked us what we remembered about Danny and the show. I think I
told the story about us both having a crush on the same girl. So I turned it to
Jeremy and asked what memories he had. He just goes, "I don't have any." I
couldn't believe it. He was just freaking out during that whole thing. We were
back in the green room and he's going, "I don't know why I am here. Why am I
here? Is he going to embarrass me on TV?" He was pacing back and forth, saying
he was going to leave. So Suzanne and I told him everything would be fine.
Maybe because he had such a bad experience with Danny, memories were coming
back or something.

GH: Fortunately for the millions of fans worldwide, the memories are anything but bad!

While we make a pitstop and refuel the bus, stay tuned for our continuing series of interviews with cast and crew members as we celebrate over 30 happy years with The Partridge Family!